22. Big Daddy Kane, "Raw" (1988)

When cats my age are reminiscing on "the classic hip-hop period" when so-and-so and such-and-such was as good as it gets – you know, when that Wayne's World dream sequence starts? This is the song that plays in our heads when we think about when hip-hop was at its apex. Beats and rhymes. Simple as that, but complex as hell.